Goodness and Mercy

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  Johnnie Mae had laughed when she heard it. “Well, the Bible does say that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. Let me ask you this. Are you doing anything you shouldn’t be doing in exchange for what he’s doing?”

  “Absolutely not. In fact, he’s been trying to get me to come back to work for him, and even though, as you are well aware, things aren’t going all that great in my life these days, I’m determined to do things God’s way. If I lose my house, my car, and friends, in the end, I know that what I do for Christ is what counts. I know this and understand it. So, even though it may be tempting to go back into that world even just temporarily and with good reasons, I refuse to do it,” Gabrielle said.

  “I will tell you that for some people, that would have been more than tempting. To make the kind of money you said you were making, especially when you’ve been praying, and it feels like not only is God not listening, but that He’s not even around. There are a lot of Christians who would have rationalized going back and even declared it to be a blessing from God.”

  “I can imagine. But I put one scripture down in my spirit, and I repeated that scripture when I knew I was in God’s will,” Gabrielle said. “First Corinthians fifteen fifty-eight: ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.’ That part about being steadfast and unmovable keeps me grounded. People may laugh at me, they may talk about me, but I know who I am in the Lord. I don’t want to do anything that would even give the appearance of wrongdoing.”

  “Well, I see nothing wrong with your taking the car, especially with your also telling me that he admitted cheating you out of some of your money early on.” Johnnie Mae let out a chuckle. “Just remember this: the devil might bring it, but if it’s good, then it’s God who sent it. For every good and perfect gift comes from above. So that goes for that money you said he blessed you with as well. Just be sure you’re not compromising God’s Word. That’s the rule to measure things: how does it line up with the Word of God?”

  So, the plan was that Gabrielle would drive the Corsica to Bible study and Johnnie Mae and Pastor Landris would take it back home with them. She had asked Jackie, one of the dance team members she’d learned lived near her neighborhood, to drop her off at her house after Bible study to keep the Landrises from having to go out of the way. When she gave Johnnie Mae the key to the car, she told her the news about her house being sold. God was really working things out. Sure, some people at church were still whispering when she passed by. But she continued to hold her head up high.

  Fatima was due home Friday. Gabrielle couldn’t wait to see her. She would have a lot to tell her, that’s for sure. That is, whenever she felt like talking, after having just lost and buried her mother.

  Right after Gabrielle handed the Corsica key to Johnnie Mae, she spotted Zachary heading her way. “I’m sorry, I really have to run. I don’t want to keep Jackie waiting,” Gabrielle said, then quickly dashed away.

  When Gabrielle got home, there was a message on her answering machine from Zachary. “I saw you at church tonight. I was coming over to speak. I thought you saw me, but I guess you didn’t. At least I know you’re okay. I was starting to worry about you since I hadn’t heard back from you at all. I was wondering if I could come over to see you . . . to talk. Or maybe you’d like to go out to dinner sometime this week. Please call me back. Bye.”

  Gabrielle shook her head and looked upward as she took in deep breaths. Two more days. Two more days. Thursday and Friday. Two more days. “God, I can see this is going to be a lot harder than I thought!”

  Chapter 38

  And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

  —Romans 15:14

  Thursday and Friday came and went rather quickly. Gabrielle and Queen really bonded. Gabrielle learned Queen also loved to dance. On Friday afternoon, Queen asked Gabrielle to show her a few of her favorite moves, and she was more than happy to oblige. There was one special move Gabrielle hadn’t done in a really long time. When she did that one, it affected Queen in a way she hadn’t expected it would. Queen was fanning her face fast with her hand as though she was trying to keep her tears up.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Queen said. “Wow. That was wonderful. I’ve only seen one other person who knew how to perform that move like that, other than myself of course. I mean, you performed it perfectly, perfectly. Where did you learn how to do that?”

  Gabrielle sat down beside Queen on the sofa as she tried to catch her breath. “I had a very special teacher growing up,” Gabrielle said. She drank some of the cranberry juice that Queen had brought in for them.

  “Did you grow up around here? I mean, in Birmingham?”

  “Yes.”

  “You wouldn’t happen to have known my aunt, would you? She’s the only other person I’ve ever known who could do that move. That’s who taught me. Her name is Esther Crowe.”

  “Esther Crowe?” Gabrielle said with excitement as she sat up straight. “Yes, I knew her! That’s who taught me how to dance. Esther Crowe is your aunt?”

  “Yes!” Queen began to smile. “Well, I’ll be. You knew my aunt, and she taught you how to dance. Well, that makes sense now. What are the chances of this?”

  “Oh, I’m getting goose bumps,” Gabrielle said. “Queen Esther, so—”

  Queen began to nod. “Yes, I was named after my aunt—Esther. My father adored his baby sister. When I was born, he wanted to name me after her. From what I was told, my aunt thought calling a child in my generation Esther was not the best thing you could do to her. It was her idea to add Queen before Esther since she couldn’t talk him out of naming me that. I admit: I used to hate being called Queen or Queen Esther when I was growing up. Both my brothers used to tease me a lot. You know how brothers can be. But my brothers wouldn’t let anybody else mess with me. And no one else had better make fun of my name either.” Queen laughed. “Well, isn’t this something?”

  “I met Miss Crowe when I was eight. She rescued me really. Miss Crowe was truly an angel on earth, truly. She was in a car accident when I was seventeen. I never found out what happened after that. I never heard anything more.” Gabrielle suddenly realized she couldn’t bring herself to ask if Miss Crowe was still alive. As long as no one had said anything differently, she could always believe Miss Crowe was not dead.

  Queen reached over and touched Gabrielle’s hand. “She’s still alive. She’s in a nursing home now. Actually, she’s been there since she got out of the hospital after the automobile accident. She doesn’t say much, a few words. Some that don’t really make sense to any of us. My brother and I used to go see her once a week before we left Chicago for warmer weather. We visit her whenever we go back home. My mother and father still live up there. My father is originally from here, but he moved up there right after my oldest brother was born. Of course, my brother doesn’t remember living here, but my father has fond memories. We used to visit Aunt Esther about once a year until the family started having family reunions and my father used his vacation time to make the yearly rounds of reunions. With twelve children, the family reunion ended up in Alabama only once. And after Aunt Esther no longer lived here, there was no reason to come back. I tell you, Aunt Esther was the best!”

  “I never knew what happened to her,” Gabrielle said. “She and I were so close. She told me she had this surprise for me. She was so excited about it. I never got to find out what it was. She left around Thanksgiving to go see about one of her brothers. There was some problem, I don’t know. After that, I never saw her again. Somebody came and sold her house, but no one ever contacted me to let me know how she was doing or anything. I didn’t know if she was alive or dead.” Gabrielle began to pat her heart. “I’m so glad to hear she’s alive. You just don’t know. I would love to see her.”

  “Maybe you can go with
me the next time I go. Possibly even learn what surprise she had for you. You never know what might happen. You could be just the medicine she needs. I know this is your last day working here, and to be honest with you, I really wish you would reconsider. You’re just what this house needs. And I’d really like for you to meet my brother. I think the two of you would hit it off fabulously.

  “He and Aunt Esther were real close,” Queen continued. “He was the reason she was in such a hurry to come to Chicago during that time. He still blames himself for what happened. Everybody has told him to forgive himself and to let it go. He and my father had some major falling out. It got really bad. Bad enough that Aunt Esther jumped in her car despite the horrid weather report and drove up. She could have waited and flown in later in the week, but she was the baby of the family, and she thought it was her place to fix things when things got out of hand. My brother feels to this day that had he not done what he did, she never would have come when she did. And she would be okay today, most likely teaching a school of children how to dance those beautiful moves the way she taught you and me.”

  Gabrielle shook her head. “I remember she told me about her being from a large family. Her family seemed to mean everything to her. I can’t imagine more than five.”

  “Oh, and they are truly close. My grandmother, God bless her soul, was quite the religious one. She named all twelve of her children with names from the Bible.”

  “Wow, that’s something,” Gabrielle said.

  “Yes. Let’s see: there’s Deborah, Barak, Abraham”—Queen ticked off the names using her fingers to keep count—“Joseph, Zechariah, although he goes by Zachary, Naomi, Ruth, Rachel, Mary Elizabeth . . . she named Mary Elizabeth two Biblical names because she said Mary and Elizabeth gave birth to Jesus and John the Baptist and the names should be linked. There’s Daniel, Priscilla, and Esther, the baby. Twelve.”

  “A quite impressive group,” Gabrielle said. But what she was really thinking was how one of the children’s names was Zachary, and how Queen must have a thing for the name Zachary, since she’d obviously married a man with that same name. Zachary was not all that common, especially among black folks.

  “Well, I should get back to work,” Gabrielle said. “I only have an hour left, and I don’t want to cheat you out of any of your time.”

  “Please, don’t leave,” Queen said. “I mean, don’t leave and go work for someone else. I really like you. I really wish you’d reconsider and stay. This house needs your special touch. I know I’m being selfish. And I can’t help but think that I must have done something to drive you away.”

  “It’s not you,” Gabrielle said.

  “But you’re still getting your job going through the agency, right?” Gabrielle nodded to Queen’s question. “And you were the one who asked to be changed, correct?”

  “Yes,” Gabrielle said. “But I promise you, my asking to leave has nothing to do with you.” That was mostly true. Her leaving had more to do with her husband, Zachary.

  “Is it the pay? Because I’m sure I can get that upped if I need to. Tell me, what will you be making with the other family you’re set to go to on Monday? I’m sure we can match that amount.”

  “It’s the same pay. Queen, it’s not the money, okay? But I really appreciate your caring so much, and I especially appreciate your wanting me to stay enough to offer me more money. That means more than you’ll ever know. You make leaving so hard.”

  “Won’t you please tell me what it is, so I can fix it?” Queen said. “Please, or else I will be forced to believe it really was something that I did.”

  Gabrielle touched her hand. “Please, don’t do that. It has nothing to do with you. I promise you that. If it was only about you, I tell you, you would have found it hard ever getting rid of me. Now, will you please just let it go? Please.”

  Queen stood up. “Sure.” She flashed a quick, rather forced smile. “Why don’t you go now? Take off an hour early. You’ve done more than a day’s work already. Let this be my gift to you.” She smiled again, this time with more sincerity. “But if you don’t mind, I would like to keep in touch. And maybe you and I can work on your visiting my aunt when I go again. I have a feeling if she sees you, she’ll absolutely perk up.” She laughed a little. “There is this one phrase she says constantly. She’s been saying it for years. It doesn’t make sense to any of us, but from time to time she says ‘book her.’ I don’t know, maybe she’s thinking about her days when she was at The Juilliard School of Dance. Maybe she wants someone to book her to dance or possibly she wants to book them. I don’t know.”

  “Book her?” Gabrielle said as she began to squint her eyes.

  “Yes.” Queen looked at Gabrielle quizzically. “Does that mean something to you? I mean, you did know her for quite a few years.”

  “This may be a stretch here, but before I changed my last name, I was Gabrielle Mercedes Booker. See? Book her . . . Booker. It’s possible she may . . . may have been trying to say my last name: Booker.”

  “Book her, Booker.” Queen repeated the two. She began to laugh. “I bet you that’s it!” She laughed some more. “Aunt Esther has been trying to say your last name all of these years.” She touched Gabrielle on her shoulder. “Now, I know you’re going to have to go see her. I can’t wait to tell my brother! And my father . . . oh, my father is going to flip! My father kept telling us that it meant something, that she wasn’t just babbling words. She likely was trying to tell us to get in touch with you—Booker.”

  Queen insisted Gabrielle take the hour off early and leave. At the door, Gabrielle turned back and hugged Queen Esther. Whatever icy feelings she’d had about hugging folks, somehow somewhere, had slowly melted away when she hadn’t even realized it.

  “I pray the best for you and your family,” Gabrielle said. And she meant it.

  Chapter 39

  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

  —Luke 6:37

  Gabrielle had gone to Fatima’s house on Saturday to visit her. She’d just gotten back after burying her beloved mother. Wanting to get out of her house and after learning Gabrielle had sold hers—closing on Wednesday and possibly moving out the next Saturday—Fatima decided to go to Gabrielle’s house to help her pack.

  Zachary had called Gabrielle twice now, his second message indicating his belief that she might possibly be listening to that message and was merely refusing to pick up.

  “I really need to talk to you,” Zachary said. “It’s urgent that we talk. I’ll be happy to come over. Just please, please, call me when you get this message. Okay? Please.”

  Fatima heard the message as Gabrielle played it. She asked when Gabrielle stepped away without picking up the phone, “Aren’t you going to call him back?”

  “Nope.”

  “No? Why not? Because I’m here? Girl, you’d better call that man back. I can start putting your dishes in a box while you call him. I won’t mind,” Fatima said.

  “I’m not going to call him back.” Gabrielle primped her mouth. “At least, not yet.”

  “But he said it was urgent,” Fatima said.

  Gabrielle looked directly at Fatima. “I’m not going to call him back. So, let’s just drop it, all right.”

  “No, I will not drop it.” Fatima put her hand on her hip. “What happened?”

  “Nothing. I just found out that he’s not who I thought he was, that’s all.” Gabrielle picked up a folded cardboard box and began shaping it into an actual box.

  Fatima picked up the tape and helped by taping the bottom of the box as Gabrielle held it together. “Okay, so he’s not who you thought he was. Would you care to be a little more specific?”

  Gabrielle picked up another cardboard flat and started the box creation process again as Fatima manned the tape. “For starters, did you know he’s a doctor?”

  Fatima stopped pulling the tape and gazed at Gabrielle as a smile emerged. “Get out
of here! He’s a doctor? What kind? Wow, a doctor. Who would have thought? Although, now that you mention it, I can see it. He has that doctor look about him.”

  “I don’t know what kind of a doctor, because he’s never told me what he does.”

  “Now, that’s strange. Why do you think he kept that information from you?” Fatima finished taping the box.

  Gabrielle got another cardboard flat and continued their routine. “I don’t think he deliberately kept that information from me. I never asked him what he did, and I suppose he didn’t want to sound like a braggadocio and volunteer it. I mean, what would he say? ‘Hey, did I tell you that I’m a doctor? ’ No, that’s not Zachary’s style.”

  “So, how did you happen to find out?”

  Gabrielle stopped and laughed. “My new job. Would you believe it was his house that I ended up being hired to clean?”

  “Get out of here! He hired you to clean his house? Man, talk about tacky. He’s interested in dating you, yet he hires you to clean his house? Well, I guess that was nice of him, since you were looking for work.”

  Gabrielle picked up two of the boxes they had created and took them to the kitchen. Fatima picked up the other one and followed her. “That’s not exactly how it happened,” Gabrielle said. “In fact, I’m not sure he knows I was cleaning his house.”

  Fatima dropped the empty boxes at her feet and stared at Gabrielle. “Okay, now this is starting to sound really crazy.”

  “Okay. I got a job through this employment agency. It was one Johnnie Mae told me about. She recommended me after she learned that I was looking for a job and that I didn’t have a problem being a housekeeper. I reported to my place of employment on Tuesday, and I had a really wonderful time getting to know Queen Esther.”

  “Queen Esther? There was someone at his house named Queen Esther?”

  “Yes, his wife. Only she generally goes by Queen. Although, I think one of her brothers calls her Q.”